government sources say stevens' personal security guard managed to climb out a window, perhaps this one where the bars were removed. the question is why stevens, left behind in the dark and the smoke, didn't follow. his body was pulled from that same window by a crowd hours later. the september 11 attack wasn't the first on the u.s. consulate. it had been bombed in june. on september 8, jamal busha'la, a commander of one of benghazi's most powerful militias, met with three americans-- one from the u.s. embassy-- to warn them about deteriorating security. >> ( translated ): benghazi's not safe. >> reporter: you told that to the americans? >> yeah, i tried to. >> pelley: liz palmer joins us from benghazi. liz, that rebel commander had pretty specific warnings. is there any indication the state department took them to heart? >> reporter: he said that his impression was -- his advice was sort of shrugged off. but that meeting, i should add, was called with the commanders to discuss the possibility of american private investment returning to benghazi, that they were even discussing it under